And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle.
Jabal the father of such as dwell in tents, and ... have cattle. Jabal means "flowing". The Hebrew х miqneh (H4735)] properly denotes possession, property, but always of cattle, in which alone the wealth of nomadic people consists. The word is strictly used only of sheep, goats, and neat cattle, excluding animals of burden (Gesenius). Thus, though born in a city, and bred in a settled state of society, he cultivated migratory habits, and as, from the land surrounding the city being laid under cultivation, but being comparatively sterile, (Genesis 4:12), a more extensive portion would be required for the support of the population, he was obliged to travel to a distance in quest of pastures. Necessity would compel him to remove from place to place, as new pasturage was desired, and consequently to contrive the tent, a convenient kind of light and movable habitation. This constituted the difference between him and Abel, who, though "a keeper of sheep," seems to have been stationary. Jabal was the first to commence the nomadic mode of life; and, as his example seems to have had many followers, it may be inferred, from the encouragement given to the breed of cattle, that the owners found a ready market for all the produce, whether in milk and butter, or for the purposes of clothing, not to add, perhaps, also for animal food. 'This is the nomad life which Abraham and the other patriarchs led, as do most of the Arabs at the present day-a life in which the head of a family, with his children and servants, pitches his tent on a fruitful spot, which is the particular property of no one, and when this is grazed on, moves onwards. Hitherto it would seem that the agricultural and pastoral life, in a state of greater simplicity, were united; but here begins the separation of work and calling' (Gerlach).